Known methods at about atmospheric pressure to condense fluids from a vapor to the liquid phase typically involve condensers and externally applied cooling thereof to condense the fluid as a liquid. A number of modifications include use of theoretical plate increasing apparatus such as baffles or beads, for example, as in Hempel fractionating columns, Vigreux columns, glass packed columns, and so forth. In commercial practice, very low pressure (very high vacuum) methods are employed generally at high yields.
However, attempts to condense or coalesce oils at ambient pressure or even low or so-called mild vacuum with such apparatus and methodology can be highly problematical. The cooling of condensers such as by water, ice, dry ice, liquid nitrogen and so forth can be energy inefficient and even expensive. Moreover, such ambient pressure and mild vacuum methodology can be highly inefficient in yield of liquid from the vapor phase, especially with respect to oils. For example, in the lab, with typical motor oils, in an ambient pressure or mild vacuum method, the yield of condensed liquid from the vapor phase is often as low as 5 percent of theory; improvements in the yield, up to about 15 percent of theory, are possible the employment of glass bead packed condensers, and up to about 80 percent of theory are obtainable with dry ice cooling. Yet, such ambient pressure and mild vacuum methods can damage the fluid. In the case of commercially practiced very high vacuum methodology, yields of oils, for example, can reach or exceed 90 percent of theory, but a relatively great energy input is required to heat the sample, provide the very high vacuum, and so forth, which may also be inefficient. Such inefficiencies are undesirable.
In the lubricant art, an historical view of the needs in the art reveals pertinent factors, to include as follows:
1) Volatility measurements are important to lubricant function determination, to include, for example, a phosphorus loss effect on emissions by a poisoning of the catalyst of vehicle catalytic converters. PA1 2) Hence, tests such as the Noack test are employed. Therein, weight loss is measured by difference in pot liquid before and after sample volatilization. PA1 3) Since, in the Noack test, the volatilized fluid is not collected, an ability to analyze that fraction of volatilized fluid is generally lost except with gas chromatography, which is often not well suited to effective analysis of the copious fluid amount.
What is lacking and needed in the art are efficient yields of condensed liquid from vapor. This is especially so with respect to oils, and in the lubricant testing art.